Why Southwest is Canceling More Flights Than Any Other Airline in South Florida Airports

Leaders at Southwest Airlines will face tough questions and decisions as the major company cancels thousands of commercial flights over the holidays while competitors canceled far fewer. 

On Tuesday morning, 75% of the company’s flights out of Fort Lauderdale and 80% out of Miami were canceled. 

This comes after an announcement on Monday from Southwest leaders that the airline would only be flying one-third of its scheduled flights.

The Dallas-based carrier canceled more than 70% of its flights on Monday. By comparison, American, United, Delta and JetBlue, had cancelation rates down to 0-2% by Tuesday.

In multiple interviews, representatives for flight attendants, staff, and pilots associations lay the blame on several factors: an outdated scheduling system, the company’s unique “point-to-point” route system, and the inciting incident of a large winter storm. 

In press statements, Southwest leaders say the problem is not staffing but logistics and operations. Jay McVay, a Southwest spokesperson, said the cancellations snowballed because flight crews and planes were out of place. 

“So we’ve been chasing our tails, trying to catch up and get back to normal safely, which is our No. 1 priority, as quickly as we could,” said McVay.

Unlike most major airlines, Southwest operates a “point-to-point” route system, which offers a higher percentage of direct and non-stop flights by picking up different crews along the way. However, when a problem arrives like this winter storm, crews and planes are scattered throughout the country and the whole system gets thrown off.

That system differs from other airlines which use a “hub-and-spoke” system, routing planes through several regional hubs. It requires more connecting flights which may irritate passengers with layovers during calm times. A major pro of the “hub-and-spoke” system, however, is when there is a problem, crews and planes are still grouped in the regional “hub” cities. 

So heading into 2023, Southwest staff is scrambling to coordinate their crews and their planes across the country while the other airlines are operating closer to usual. 

In normal times, this can allow Southwest to operate more flights each day compared to other carriers, said Scott Meyerowitz, executive editor of The Points Guy travel site.

But if an airport goes offline because of weather, and a flight cannot reach its destination, the point-to-point system has a cascading cancellation effect, he said.

"When bad weather hits, and you have staffing issues like they did, it creates a situation that is near impossible to recover from, and it couldn’t have happened during a worse possible week," Scott Meyerowitz, executive editor of The Points Guy, told NBC News. 

CNBC reported Southwest also had fuel and staffing issues in Denver. 

The United States Department of Transportation announced it plans to review the company and determine whether the trouble was “controllable.”

In a statement Monday night posted online, Southwest Airlines leaders wrote, “our heartfelt apologies for this are just beginning.”

“We were fully staffed and prepared for the approaching holiday weekend when the severe weather swept across the continent, where Southwest is the largest carrier in 23 of the top 25 travel markets in the U.S. These operational conditions forced daily changes of an unprecedented volume and magnitude to our flight schedule and the tools our teams use to recover the airline remain at capacity,” they wrote, “On the other side of this, we'll work to make things right for those we've let down, including our Employees.”

At the Fort Lauderdale International Airport, lost baggage piled up next to the Southwest Airlines baggage claim, symbols of canceled flights and missed trips. It matched the long line of people looking for answers from Southwest staff. 

Celo Li and Eric Fernwood just got off a cruise and Tuesday were trying to get back home to Austin, Texas. Their flight was canceled Monday and the airline put them up in a hotel.

“We woke up this morning and found out that the rebooked flight was canceled too. So we tried to call and couldn’t get through,” said Li. 

 They won’t be able to return to Austin for several days. They’re trying to keep a positive attitude. 

 “I don’t think any of these people purposely caused the weather delays. Going out on a limb here. But they’re trying to do their best and they have very little to work with,” said Fernwood. 

Others are less cheerful. Joanna Riley was trying to get home to Kansas City, Missouri Tuesday and says she will no longer fly Southwest. 

“I just think that it’s been ugly, and things are just not working out in anyone’s favor as you can see,” said Riley.

Travelers can request a refund or another action from the company here.